The Scavenger and the Dalek
by Maiden of the Forests
Summary: After a mysterious accident with the TARDIS, the Doctor finds himself crashed on a planet of sand and ruins. Rey is returning home one evening when she comes upon a stranger with a blue box, and it seems he's trailed a dangerous enemy in his wake. Can they work together to defeat the Doctor's greatest foe?
1. Prologue

_**Author's Note:**_ _Fair warning: I am a very new Doctor Who fan. I've only seen about five seasons of the new show and none of the classic show. I've tried to do my research, but I can't guarantee that I've gotten everything right. Also I have no idea how the TARDIS works, so please forgive all the random buttons and levers. XD_

* * *

 **Prologue**

"Turbulence!"

The Doctor seized a lever and jerked it forward. "Turbulence is for airplanes and…and vortex manipulators!" The floor shook under his feet and he steadied himself against the edge of the console. "Not my TARDIS!" He flicked a switch and cocked an eyebrow at nothing. "Hear that? No more turbulence."

The floor steadied to a gentle sway, and he allowed his grip on the console to relax. "Can't be the TARDIS herself." He leaned back and raked his fingers through his hair. "She's never behaved like this! Well…once. Maybe twice." He sighed. "Alright, so it's happened before. But never like this! Never…" His eyes fell on the screen and he froze. The black nothingness that was the co-ordinates stared him in the face.

"Oh no." He gripped the edges of the screen until the metal bit into his fingers. "No, no, no."

He whirled, and smashed a well-aimed fist into a button. "Come on, come on! Co-ordinates. There's got to be co-ordinates! There can't just be—" He tensed. Outside the doors, a sense like that of utter nothingness pressed in on him and smothered his words, and it seemed the TARDIS herself shivered away from it. The pulsing light of the core dropped, and for a moment it seemed that something vital in the heart of the machine flickered out. A wave of sickness swept through the TARDIS and settled itself in the pit of the Doctor's stomach.

He shook himself, and the shadows fled. "Well then." He flicked a lever. "No use just sitting here, is there?" He brought his hand down on a button with a wild grin. "That should work! That always works."

The room flew sideways, and he slipped down the tilted floor. His head slammed into the wall, and colors exploded in front of his eyes.

"That didn't work," he groaned.

He got to his feet and braced himself against the reclining wall. One hand closed on the railing, he stopped for a moment. The console loomed above him, and the pulsing of the core had stopped. The lights around him had taken on a strange, sickly hue.

"Wherever I am, she doesn't like it," he muttered. He grabbed at the railing and pulled himself up toward the doors. "I must have crashed. Hmm. Now _that's_ something that hasn't happened in a few millennia."

He made his way slowly and cautiously up tilted wall until he finally reached the listing doors. His foot slipped and he rolled forward.

He grasped for something, anything to hold onto, and his fingers found the doorknob. The door fell open and he rolled forward over the side, falling down, down, down into nothingness…

His face hit sand.

"Well." He pushed himself to a sitting position and dusted himself off. "That wasn't so bad."

Desert stretched in all directions, rolling hills and plains of sand. The sun cast long shadows as it dipped toward the horizon, and far in the distance, he thought he could see the ruins of some ancient civilization, a skeleton of metal sharp against the sky. The TARDIS, tilted and half-buried in the sand, stood out brightly against the overwhelming brownness. A shadow moved behind it, a silhouette stretched across the sand…

"What?" He jumped to his feet and whirled to face the familiar form. "What? _What_?"

* * *

 _Idk when in Ten's timeline this is supposed to be but I'm going to put it somewhere in between Martha and Donna since he's not too broody over losing anyone and he's willing to take another companion. Yeah, this is definitely the beginning of season 3.5. :D_


	2. Chapter 1

_**Author's Note:**_ _Gah, I have no idea how Rey's speeder works. I tried to look at a diagram and it's SUPER DETAILED AND CONFUSING so I just sort of went with what worked in the scene lol. XP_

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

The sun dipped toward the horizon as Rey trod across the desert, tugging a heavy sled behind her. Piles of rusty parts bumped and clinked as she walked, and a hot evening wind tugged at her clothes and whipped up little eddies in the sand.

She heaved the sled and its contents onto the side of her speeder and secured it with a quick, sturdy knot. She jumped lightly aboard, and with the flick of a lever, the little craft whizzed across the sand into the sinking sun.

A strange silhouette shot into her view. Her hand flew to the brake and she pulled the speeder to a jolting stop.

A bright blue box lay fallen in the desert as if dropped there from some great height, one corner buried deeply in the sand. She hovered beside the odd object for a moment. It was so _bright._ So fresh.

She edged the speeder closer. She allowed her hand to slip from the controls, and reached forward, her fingers inches away from the tilted windows. The sinking sun cast its golden beams over the fallen object, and for a moment it seemed she looked upon a legend of old, a thing of great power and great wonder.

She drew her hand back sharply and gunned the engine. The little speeder shot off across the desert, black smoke billowing from its exhaust pipe and its engine sputtering. Almost against her will, she glanced back once more at the strange blue box, even now disappearing over the horizon.

She whipped the speeder around in a sharp curve and shot back toward it. She slid to the ground and her hand closed around her staff, all senses on high alert.

Something had moved.

Her feet landed soundlessly on the sand as she darted forward and crouched behind the blue box. The setting sun glared in her eyes and she raised a hand to shade them, and peered across the desert. A man stood just within sight of the box, looking a bit befuddled, his hands in the air. A harsh, rasping voice echoed across the desert

"EXTERMINATE. EXTERMINATE!" A large droid wobbled and jerked into her view, moving as if on wheels inhibited by the sand. Its head jerked toward the man, and it pointed what looked to be some sort of built in blaster at his chest.

She drew her staff and leapt forward.

All her senses focused in on the droid as its head snapped toward her, and its blaster followed with barely a second's delay. Her staff flashed through the air and she landed a solid crack to the blaster, whirled, and smacked its eyestalk. It moved forward slowly, and the cold stare of a single eye met her determined gaze.

Her fingers loosened their grip and she allowed her staff to fall to the sand as she dropped to a crouch.

She launched herself forward and wrapped her arms around the droid.

It teetered, and fell forward. Its head strained against her grip and she held on until the metal cut into her fingers and her arms shook. Its harsh voice blasted a string of unintelligible curses, grating against her ears and throbbing against her mind. She tensed, gathered her strength, and shoved.

The droid rolled to its side, and its eyestalk buried itself in the sand.

She jumped to her feet, snatched her fallen staff, and dashed toward the stranger, who had jumped back and was standing with his hand still in the air and his mouth hanging slightly open.

"Run," she hissed. "Run, before it rights itself."

Their eyes met for a moment in a silent assent, and together they took off across the desert, around the blue box and off across the rolling sand. Sand flew up in a cloud behind them and the muffled voice of the droid screeched behind them as it floundered in the sand. The skeleton of a fallen x-wing loomed up before them.

Her eyes flickered to his, and she dropped to the sand and crouched behind the rusted ruin, scanning the desert around them in the flash of a second.

He dropped to a crouch beside her. "Did we lose it?"

"I think so."

"Good. That's good, that's very good." He jumped to his feet and extended a hand toward her. "I'm the Doctor, by the way. And you are…?"

She stood, ignoring his offered hand. "Rey." For a moment they just stood there, faces glowing and breath coming in short gasps. For the first time since she'd seen him, Rey stopped to really _look_ at the stranger whose life she'd saved.

He wore strange, obviously foreign clothes, with a striped brown jacket and trousers, and a long coat that reached nearly to the ground. His hair looked as if it were continually disheveled, and he had the face of a young man. But there was something about his eyes that made her stop, and look again—they seemed _old,_ somehow, older than anyone she had ever met.

"Well then. Rey." She started at his voice, and her hand strayed to her staff before she could stop it. "Do you happen to have any idea where I am?"

She shook herself, and brought her focus back to his words. "Niima Outpost," she said. "Planet of Jakku."

"Jakku." He raised an eyebrow. "Never heard of it. What system?"

"Jakku system, edge of the Western Reaches." She dropped her eyes, her face a careful mask. "The only planet you'll find around here for lightyears." She scanned the plains again. "What _is_ that thing?"

His eyes darkened. "A dalek," he said, and his voice was low, and full of memory.

"A dalek? Some sort of droid?"

"Droid?" He shook his head with a sharp jerk. "No, a dalek is a living thing. Genetically engineered to feel nothing but hatred, equipped with a laser powerful enough to kill with a single blast, and encased in an impenetrable metal shell, it's one of the most dangerous creatures in the universe." He raked his fingers through his hair and it stood up in more directions than Rey thought was possible. "And I've no idea how it got here."

"So it's a deadly creature that can't be killed." She forced the quaver out of her voice and closed her fingers around the comfortingly familiar metal of her staff. "What do we do, then?"

He grabbed her hand and started around the edge of the fallen x-wing. "I don't know!" He flashed her a grin that faded slowly as he stared across the desert. "I usually just…make these things up as I go along."

She pulled her hand from his with a little huff. "You don't have to drag me!" she cried. "I know how to run!"

"Sorry. Old habits." He dashed off across the sand and she leapt after him with a cry of indignation. "We've got to find the thing. It was weak but gaining power, so it'll still be in the vicinity of the TARDIS." He tossed her a wild grin. "Come on! Allons-y!"

"I _am_ coming! Allons-what?"

"Means 'let's go' in French," he shouted over his shoulder. "It's a favorite of mine. Has a nice ring to it, don't you—" He skidded to a stop, and she smacked into him from behind. She shook herself and stepped to his side with a little huff.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

"My TARDIS. It's gone!"


	3. Chapter 2

_**Author's Note:**_ _Gah, short chapter, sorry about that. I had to end it where I did…_

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

The evening wind whipped up sand into their faces, and into the swiftly-disappearing hole where the blue box had lay. The Doctor raked his fingers through his hair and stared at the empty desert before him.

"She's gone." His voice was hollow. "She's just—gone."

"What was it? Your—TARDIS."

"My…uh...ship." His voice trailed off, and he dropped to his knees on the sand. For a moment he looked like a desperate madman, his hair disheveled and his coat whipping in the wind, his hand pressed against the sand as if to absorb the last echoes of his lost machine. "Well, sort of. She doesn't much like the name—much prefers TARDIS." The words were light, but despair flickered in his voice. "Who could have—"

"Dexx." She spat out the name like a curse. "Only he could be this fast. And he'll be long gone by now."

" _Long gone_?" He leaped to his feet and grabbed her by the shoulders. "How long? Where did he go?"

She wiggled out of his grip and shot him something like a glare. "He'll be halfway across the planet by tomorrow. Doctor." She met his gaze with all of the force of a commanding queen. "Your ship is gone."

He kicked at the sand like an angry little boy. " _Gone_? But they can't do that! It's mine."

She sighed, and dropped her gaze. "They do it all the time."

He paced away from her, and back, and away again, his fingers first toying with his coat, then ruffling his hair, then fiddling with something in his pocket. "I've lost my TARDIS." He skidded to a stop, and turned, his hair frazzled and standing on end. "Can you believe it? I'm stuck here, just—stuck here, on this sand pit of a planet!"

She shrugged. "So find yourself another ship," she said. "There's got to be a useable one somewhere on this planet."

"Another ship?" He stared at her. " _Another ship_?"

"Doctor! We can't just go running across the desert in search of—"

His eyes widened, and a wild grin burst across his face. "Oh yes we can!" he cried, bounding across the sand toward her. "Listen, we've got your little—what do you call that thing, anyway?"

"Speeder." Avoiding his gaze, she backed away. "But—I can't."

"And why can't you? Surely—"

She took a deep breath, and forced her face into a hard mask. "I just—can't, that's all." She turned, and stared unseeing across the desert. "I should be going. Find someone—" Her voice caught, and she shot a little glance behind her. "Find someone to take you to the western trading post. They'll have your ship there. Maybe you can buy it back."

"Rey! I—"

"No you don't." Her voice was sharp, and she winced at its harshness. "You don't need me. I'm—I'm just a scavenger."

"Rey! You're…"

But she forced herself forward, letting his voice sink into the sand behind her. She dared one small glance back at the strange man, the last beams of sunlight falling on his face, his coat waving gently in the breeze. For a moment, it seemed he met her gaze, and she hesitated. Her steps faltered.

Who was this strange man who had so suddenly catapulted into her life with his bright blue ship and his enigma of a personality?

And how could she just let him go?

The memories of a thousand hungry days filled her mind, days when she had returned as the sun was setting only to be told that her parts were worth nothing simply because she was late. How many times had she been scolded, denied her portions, told that she was lazy?

How many times had she trod this sandy route, not daring to hope that perhaps, when she returned, _they_ would be there?

How many chances to leave had she denied, how many days filled with doubt and longing had she endured, hoping that someday they would return?

She couldn't leave. The thought punctuated her steps and pounded through her mind. _She couldn't leave._ She tore her gaze from the stranger and started off across the desert, determination in her steps, painful, ragged determination.

The sun dipped its face below the horizon as she walked, and the twilight spread its long fingers over the planet. She stepped up to her speeder and allowed her hand to rest for a moment on the rusty metal.

A prickle shot up her arm, and she tensed. Her hand flew to her staff as the sound of a blaster shot sizzled from the direction of the outpost, and the ghost of a shout echoed across the plains, a cry cut off by sudden force—or sudden death.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

The dalek! She vaulted aboard her speeder and launched it into full speed, whizzing across the sand as the wind whipped past her face. The shadowed outline of Niima outpost rose over the horizon and bore down on her in the half light. She slammed on the brake and leaped to the ground.

She approached the outpost with silent steps, all senses on high alert. Not a shape moved among the shadowy outlines of tents and shacks, and the eerie stillness of night covered the little town.

Was it possible that someone had killed the thing?

The Doctor had said—

She darted behind a tent and peered out over the dusky desert. A little ways away stood the Office of the Constable, which was really nothing more than a little metal shack cobbled together, as was everything here, out of stray parts. There was always something happening at the Office of the Constable, whether it be some sort of top-secret meeting—likely concerning the serious matter of how to fix the collapsing wall in the back—or even just a guard pacing from one end of the rusty, crooked door to the other.

A guard! There was no guard.

She crept around the corner of the tent and approached the building, silent as a creature of the night, her eyes fixed on the open door. Nothing moved in the blackness within, and she shivered in the stillness.

The details of the shack stood out in sharp focus as she approached, lit by the harsh light of a small lantern, rolled on its side in the sand. The dark form of a guard lay slumped across the doorstep, his hand reaching for the lantern, his face buried in the sand. She shuddered and approached him slowly, silently, and dropped to his knees beside him.

A blackened hole had been burnt in the back of his cloak, as if by a powerful laser, and she knew before she pressed her fingers to his wrist that she would feel no pulse. A little sound came from inside the shack, like the grating of wheels on rusty metal.

She leaped to her feet and burst into the shack, the lantern in one hand and her staff in the other.

The harsh white light fell on the prone forms of the Constable and his other guard, slumped on the floor. The cold silence of death reigned. Her grip tightened until her fingers dug into her palm, and she moved the lantern slowly toward the darkened corner of the shack where she knew his computers stood.

A loud _bang_ sounded from the largest computer, and she nearly dropped the lantern. The dalek's head swiveled toward hers and it withdrew its suction cup from the computer as grey smoke curled from the screen.

"Stop!" she cried. "Whatever you're doing, stop!"

It just stared at her for a moment, its single blue eye meeting hers with a cold, mechanical stare.

"HOW DID YOU FIND ME?" Its harsh voice filled the small room and she winced.

She forced her voice into something steady and fearless. "I followed the sounds of death," she said. She stepped forward, the lantern held in front of her face, squinting in its light. "Why did you kill them?"

"Rey!"

She whirled to see the tall form of the Doctor standing silhouetted in the doorway.

"THE DOCTOR WILL BE EXTERMINATED!" The dalek's blaster swiveled to the Doctor's chest, and it rolled forward. She jumped out of the way before it could knock her to the ground and lunged for the blaster in the Constable's belt.

She thought she heard the Doctor's voice over the pounding in her ears, shouting, pleading. She pointed the blaster at the dalek's head and pulled the trigger.

The shot dissolved before it reached the dalek's metal sides. With a cry, she let loose another shot, and another, and another, as the dalek rolled slowly and inevitably forward.

"Stop!" she cried. "Don't shoot him!"

The dalek's wheels grated to a stop, and it stood still in the center of the shack. Her shaking hand fell to her side and she stared at the creature, her breath coming in short gasps. Every muscle in her body felt weak.

Had she killed it?

A whirring sound came from inside the creature's mechanism, and it slowly rose from the floor until it hovered a few inches in the air. She stumbled backwards and raised the blaster again.

Her finger trembled as it neared the trigger.

The dalek zoomed forward and out the door. She dropped the blaster and flew forward as its side crashed into the Doctor and he fell to the ground with a cry.

She dropped to her knees at his side. "Doctor?"

He sat up with a groan and rubbed his head. "It's gone, isn't it. Just…flew off across the desert like it knew where it was going." His eyes widened and he jumped to his feet. His words tumbled out so fast they tripped over each other. "Where's the next center of population?"

"I don't know!" She realized suddenly that she was on her feet, and he must have pulled her. "I mean—yes! The western trading post. Day's journey to the west. Why—"

He leapt past her and into the shack. "What was the dalek doing when you found it?"

"It was by the—the computer, over there. It had it's—suction—thing—over the screen—"

He skidded to a stop in front of the smoking computer screen. "What kind of information is on these computers?"

"Everything. Records, maps—oh." She darted to his side. " _Oh._ "

"So it's absorbed a map of the planet." His eyes darkened, and he stared out into the night. "It'll kill everyone, Rey. _Everyone._ "

The sharp light of the fallen lantern cast their shadows high on the ceiling. The smell of burning metal filled the little shack, and eerie silence reigned as she stared at him, the man with eyes so full of memory.

She jerked her head toward the door. "Come on," she ordered.

"What?"

"We're going after the dalek."

In a moment, they were out the door. They raced through the outpost, weaving in and out of rusty buildings and flapping tents. The shadow of the speeder hovered in the night, and she vaulted aboard and yanked the Doctor up behind her.

"You might want to hold on," she hollered, and with a giant _vroom_ and a spurt of black smoke _,_ the speeder shot off across the desert.

She never knew how long they hurtled across the sand, the cold night wind whipping past her face and stinging her cheeks. The moon rose in the sky above them, and the night grew colder and colder. She thought she felt the Doctor's arms around her waist, and for a time she was certain he was staring at her hands on the controls.

The minutes flew by like the wind in their faces, the hours like the hills and valleys of sand that disappeared over the horizon almost before they reached them. Her eyes stung from the wind and from the sand, and she almost appreciated the warmth of the Doctor, squeezed so closely into the speeder behind her.

The engine coughed out cloud after cloud of black smoke as it sputtered its way over the desert. The noise of the sputtering was in her ears and in her mind, over and over, louder and louder…

She shook her head and cleared the fog from her mind.

It wasn't supposed to sputter like that.

Black smoke trickled from the exhaust pipe and the engine gave one last putter. The sound faded out, and one last trail of smoke floated into the night air.

She growled, and pushed the accelerator.

The engine sputtered, and a cloud of smoke thicker than she had ever seen it issued from the back of the machine. It let out a low whine, and fell to the sand with a soft thump.

She groaned and slid to the ground.

"Oh, that's bad," she said.

* * *

 _Review? Pretty pretty please? Me likes reviews._


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"It's overheated." She sighed and turned to the Doctor, who had plopped down with his back to a small hill, looking a bit bored. "All we can do is wait."

He sighed and slumped back against the sand. "Waiting—I hate waiting."

She gave the speeder a sharp kick. "I should have known," she said with a sigh. "Never should have run it that long on high speed."

The Doctor jumped to his feet. "Here, let me take a look at that." He pulled a strange little device out of the pocket of his suit, and reached for the door to the engine.

She opened her mouth and snapped it shut again when he pulled back with a sharp cry. "Ow! That's _hot_!"

She nodded. "I was about to warn you."

He stepped back a bit, and an odd blue light glowed from the end of the little thing in his hand. She heard the click of a latch, and the door popped open.

"Hey!" She jumped forward, her staff at the ready. "What did you do?"

"Opened the door." He held the device up for her to see. "Sonic screwdriver. Handy thing when you have an overheated speeder." He nudged the door open further and stuck his head into the engine compartment.

Before she could cry out, he jumped back. "Ow! Overheated engine. Right." He ran his fingers through his hair and ruffled it until it stood up in all directions. "Alright, no injuries. Just singed my hair a bit." He edged closer struck the sonic screwdriver into the engine compartment. "Remind me not to do that again. I like my hair." He scanned the little device back and forth, and reached into his pocket again. "Say, where'd you pick this thing up?" He slipped on a pair of glasses and peered into the engine compartment. "It's a bit of a—"

She cross her arms. "It's _mine,_ " she said. "I made it."

He jumped to his feet, and the sonic screwdriver disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. "You _made_ it?" A grin spread over his face, and he laughed. "Oh, that's brilliant!"

She just looked at him. "I thought you said—"

"Oh, what's a few little mistakes? Any ship would overheat after running for that long!" He leaned his elbows on the speeder's top and looked across at her, his chin in his hands. "Once I think I've got you figured out, you pull something new on me!" He stood and gave the speeder a good natured pat. "You lot never cease to amaze me."

"Doctor, what—" She tensed, and grabbed for her staff. "What was that?"

"What was what?"

"Something's in danger." Her hand closed around her staff and she was off across the desert before the Doctor could stop her. The desperate beeping of a droid and the clanging of metal echoed across the sand, and ahead of her she saw the silhouette of a clumsy metal creature, stumping forward inch by inch. As she drew closer, she saw that a net hung from its side, a little round droid inside. It hung its head and let out a low, sad beep.

She stopped, and gave a shout. The awkward machine jerked to a stop, and the shadowy form of the teedo at the helm turned its face toward her with a blank stare.

" _Release the droid,_ " she ordered in its language.

It shook its head with a jerk, and let out a string of curses on all nasty scavengers who did nothing but threaten and steal.

" _I'll take him myself, then,_ " she snapped, and dropped to her knees beside the captured droid. The little creature slid from its mount with another string of curses, and the moonlight glinted off of a tiny knife clutched in its fingers. She jumped to her feet and stepped back.

A sound like a blaster, and yet harsher and more powerful, sizzled through the night air, and she started and jumped back as a blue beam shot toward the creature. It cried out in sudden agony as the laser burned through its body, its bones glowing like lasers themselves. It toppled backwards onto the sand and lay still, a dark form in the moonlight.

She fell to her knees beside it with a little cry. Gingerly, shivering with something other than the night chill, she pressed a hand to its heart, and felt a horrible, cold stillness. No breath clouded from its lips, and its hand lay fallen at its side, its fingers still closed loosely around the knife.

"He's dead." Her voice was hollow. "He's just…dead."

"YOU HATED HIM." A harsh voice rasped across the desert, and she leaped to her feet and whirled to face the oncoming form of the dalek. "AND NOW HE IS DEAD."

"Stop." She gasped out the word and held her staff so tight she thought she would break it. "Stop. Now."

The dalek came to a stop and seemed to hover over the sand. Its head swiveled toward her, its single eye glowing a harsh, electric blue in the darkness.

She forced the surprise from her face. She took a deep breath and met its soulless gaze. "You will not kill me like you killed him," she said evenly. "Go away, and do not harm me."

"ARE YOU NOT SATISFIED WITH HIS DEATH?" The dalek floated closer, its eyestalk locked onto her face. "DID YOU DESIRE MORE AGONY?"

"I didn't want him dead!" Her staff trailed in the sand, and hot tears stung her eyes. "I never said I hated him! I only—I—"

A footstep sounded in the sand behind her, and she whirled to see the Doctor. "Why did it do that?" Her staff fell to the ground unnoticed, and her voice caught. She forced her eyes away from the dead creature at her feet. "Why did it kill him?"

He seemed to stare right through her as if she were a ghost. "It's a dalek, Rey," he said, and his voice was dark. "It's what they do."

The dalek floated closer, and Rey noticed that it hovered just inches above the sand. "WAS HE NOT YOUR ENEMY?" If its head could have tilted to the side in confusion, it would have. The blue light that was its eye pulsed. "WHY DID YOU NOT DESIRE HIS TERMINATION?"

"Enemy? No! He was nothing but a silly little thief! He didn't deserve—to—to die."

"YOU ARE NOT SATISFIED THEN?" The rasping voice faltered, and the form of the dalek came to a stop. "WHAT ARE YOUR ORDERS THEN? YOU WILL ORDER ME!"

"Doctor, why does it think I'm some sort of commander?" She turned to the dalek, her fists clenched and her face hard. "Go away." Her voice shook. "Find another commander. That's my order!" She turned sharply, and dropped to her knees beside the captured droid. She slashed through the netting in one sharp movement, and the little round droid rolled out onto the sand and looked up at her with a happy beep.

"That's just it." The Doctor's voice came from behind her. "It thinks you're its commander."

"But _why_? Why me?"

"Well…" He furrowed his brow and stared after the retreating dalek. "It must have…" His eyes widened, and a grin burst across his face. "That's it! When you attacked it that first time. You touched it, didn't you?" He stepped away and began to pace. "Right. It was weak, drained of power when it first landed here. So, you fell on top of it and rolled. You grabbed it with your bare hands." His words tumbled out so fast they nearly tripped over each other. "Well, it must have absorbed your DNA. It must have been an accident, I can't imagine why it would _want_ to. Um…no offense, of course. But that's not usually a dalek's way. Unless!" He skidded to a stop. "It was low on power. That's it! In the thick of the fight it must have activated some sort of procedure that it didn't mean to, an automatic way of recharging itself. Anyway, it must have confused it." He stared unseeing across the desert, his eyes narrowed. "Unsure of what to do with this new thing that had suddenly been introduced into its consciousness, it did the only thing a dalek knows how to do—turned to the one who introduced it for orders."

The little droid bumped against his feet, and he snapped back to reality and looked down. His eyes widened, and his mouth dropped open. "Oooh, what are _you_? You're beautiful!" He dropped to his knees and the glasses appeared again. "Come here, come here, let me get a look at you."

The little droid approached him and tilted its head to the side. He grinned, and adjusted his glasses. "Rey!" He looked up at her with a delighted laugh. "This is a _droid_? This is brilliant!"

"Doctor." She jerked her head toward where the dalek had stood. "The dalek."

"Right. Sorry about that." He jumped to his feet, slipped his glasses off, and peered across the desert. "Anyway—wait. It's gone."

"That's what I've been trying to tell you." She crossed her arms. "It just—left."

"Hmm. It seems to have obeyed your orders."

She cocked her head and stared at him.

"You told it to go away. So it did."

"We've got to—" She closed her eyes with a sigh and a groan. "My speeder. We can't."

"I can fix that!" He dashed off across the desert and she snatched her staff and followed him. He skidded to a stop in front of the grey silhouette of the speeder, threw open the door, and shoved the sonic screwdriver into the engine compartment. He just held it there for a moment, and then drew it back out with a triumphant grin.

"I've drawn the heat off of the engine. It should work now."

She vaulted aboard and the Doctor squeezed in behind her. She narrowed her eyes, and started the speeder with a well-placed smack.

It rose from the sand and hovered for a moment, and then it began to move forward, gaining speed as it went **.**

The Doctor laughed. "Oh, I'm good!"

The engine let out a loud bang, and black smoke coughed from the exhaust pipe.

With a heavy sigh, she shoved on the brake. "Not again," she groaned.

* * *

 _I am very unhappy that this site doesn't allow you to list BB8 as a character. DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT MODS. ;D_

 _Also, IF YOU REVIEW I WILL LOVE YOU FOREVER. :D_


	6. Chapter 5

_**Author's Note:**_ _Well this chapter went in a lot of different directions. Lol._

* * *

 **Chapter 5**

The stars spread out above them in ribbons and clusters, filling the clear sky with gentle silver light. The grey silhouetted of the broken-down speeder hovered above the sand a few feet away, still and silent in the starlight.

The Doctor sat with his back against a small rise, his hands behind his head. "It's not often that I visit a place so deserted." He turned to Rey, who sat beside him, her knees pulled up to her chest and her head tilted upwards. "You can see every star."

"I know." A small smile touched her lips. "Sometimes, when the night is clear, I'll watch them." Her eyes shone with starlight and something wistful. "I'll look up at all those thousands of points of light…and wonder." Her voice was soft, filled with sorrow and wonder. "There's people out there," she said. "Millions of people, millions of planets." Her voice trailed off, and her eyes glistened. "How many others see the same stars?" She paused. When she spoke, her words were barely audible. "How many people look up at the sky and think of Jakku?"

The unanswered question hung in the air like an unseen ghost, and the cool silence of the night settled over them, and the starlight sent silver shadows over the hills and valleys of sand.

The Doctor fidgeted with his coat, ran his fingers through his hair, and finally broke the silence with an abrupt question. "So," he said. "This Jakku. Where did you say it was?"

She dropped her eyes from the sky and there was a question in her voice as she spoke. "The Western Reaches…"

"The Western Reaches." He fingered the name on his tongue and stared absently into the space between the stars. "That's strange. I've never heard that name in my life. And I've had a long life." He tangled his fingers in his hair and stared unseeing at the girl who sat beside him. "It can't just have popped out of nowhere! Jakku, Western Reaches…oh!" He sat up straight with a jerk. "Have you ever heard of Earth?"

She just looked at him. "Earth?"

"Earth. It's a planet. Milky Way galaxy."

"Milky Way?" She furrowed her brow and stared past him at the desert beyond. "There's no Milky Way galaxy in this universe."

"That's it!" He leaped to his feet and pulled Rey with him, her feet flying off the ground. She wiggled free and stepped back, and shot him a little glare. "Oh, you're brilliant! Don't you see? You've got it! You've found the answer!"

Her eyes darted back and forth as she followed his frenetic pacing. "Doctor? What—"

"I've stumbled into a parallel universe! One where Earth never existed!"

She stopped, and wonder flickered behind her gaze, fear and wonder. "Are you from beyond the edge of the universe?"

He grinned. "Oh, I like you, Rey! Beyond the edge of the universe! Oh, that's brilliant. That's beautiful." He began to pace again, muttering to himself. "Parallel universe…parallel universe…the void…daleks!" He pulled his pacing up short and laughed. "Oh, that's it! I've got it!"

"Doctor?" She approached him with hesitant steps now, and raised a hand to touch him, then dropped it to her side. "Are you one of the ancient ones?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Ancient ones? And what are those?"

She gazed across the silver plains of sand, and there was something both hopeful and sad in her voice as she spoke. "Legend speaks of a people who made their home beyond the edge of the universe, beyond time and space." Her voice took on the cadence of one reciting a story, and the starlit plains reflected in her eyes. "When they step through the walls and appear among us, they are great, powerful beings who can change the course of time itself." She stared at him, and fear and longing played across her face. "You're not how I imagined them."

He broke away from her gaze with a grin and a little laugh. "Oh, I'm nothing so legendary as all that. I'm just a…wanderer, and observer of the wonders of time and space." He smiled slightly. "One of your so-called ancient ones couldn't have had a better life than me." His smile faded, and he stared off across the desert. "Nor a harder one."

A deep rumble resonated across the ground, and the clank of metal against metal echoed across the sand. Rey tensed, and dove for her staff. She was at his side again in a moment, her hands clenched around the slender weapon.

A large truck wobbled over the horizon, silhouetted by the ghost of the morning light. Its rusty frame swayed and groaned, and its wheels were uneven and not quite round.

Rey's grip on her staff tightened. "Dexx. He's got your ship."

His eyes widened. "He's got my TARDIS?" he cried. "Come on! Let's go after him!"

"Well…" She approached the speeder and laid her hand gingerly on the engine compartment. "I suppose we could. It seems to be cool now." She climbed aboard and motioned with a jerk of her head for him to follow. "Be ready for unexpected stops."

She let the speeder move a few feet across the desert before putting on speed. The black smoke that had vomited from the exhaust pipe was grey now, and the usual clanging and bumping and scraping of rusty parts had replaced the persistent rattle of the night before.

"Listen," he shouted over the sputter of the engine, "I've got a plan! We just have to draw the dalek back into the void! But we need my TARDIS and your persuasion skills."

She nodded sharply and increased the speed again. The truck came into view, shadowed on the horizon, as the morning sunlight spread over the desert. She shot a glance back at him and threw the accelerator forward as hard as she could.

They shot off across the desert with a jerk and a sputter. The truck grew larger and larger as the hurtled closer, and the clanging of metal seemed to fill the entire desert. They whizzed along its side like a fly on the side of a large, clumsy animal. The frame of the truck wobbled, and leaned toward them.

Rey threw a lever, and they shot to the side as the rusty wall skimmed the side of the little craft.

"What are you doing?" he shouted.

"Sneaking aboard!" she shouted back.

For a moment it seemed the desert moved and the speeder and the truck were perfectly still. Rey threw the accelerator forward and the speeder zoomed down the side of the truck until they hovered by a little door, visible only by the flickering light that showed in the cracks of its outline. She lowered the speeder nearer the ground and whizzed along by the clanking wheels of the truck.

"I'm going to jump!" she hollered. "Man the speeder!"

She reached for the door and gave a yank, but her fingers slipped from the rusty doorknob. She tensed, clenched her fist around the accelerator and tried again.

She turned, and mouthed something that looked like _it's locked._

The Doctor shouted something unintelligible even to himself and shoved his hand into his pocket. He pulled out the sonic screwdriver and aimed it in the general direction of the lock.

The door fell open. Rey shot a quick glance back at him and grabbed for the doorknob.

The door fell inwards as the wind caught it, and she threw herself forward. She landed in a crouch on the floor of the truck, and rolled to her feet. She shouted something that was probably to the effect of telling him to jump! Now!

The speeder fell back and the truck moved forward until the door disappeared. The Doctor grabbed for the accelerator and shoved it forward. He shot forward along the side of the truck and a grin burst across his face, and he laughed wildly. The door slammed closed again and he grabbed for the doorknob.

He swung from the speeder as the door fell inward, his coat flapping behind him. He slammed to the rusty floor and jumped to his feet. Rey was at his side in an instant. Her eyes sparkled and a grin spread across his face.

"We did it!" she cried.

"We did it!" He threw his arms around her and spun her in a circle. "We did it!" he cried with a wild laugh.

The moment her feet hit the ground, her smile faded and she was the sharp scavenger again. "We've got to find your ship, and now," she said. "Someone might have seen us."

The Doctor glanced around the room. It was large, with a ceiling so high that the light from the tiny lamps along the sides couldn't seem to find it. The corners disappeared into shadow, and rusty parts were piled everywhere, bumping and clanking as the truck moved. The floor beneath their feet swayed and jerked, and he watched as Rey moved swiftly and smoothly across it.

"We'll start in the corners," she said, and her voice echoed off the rusty walls, bouncing until it reached the ceiling and fell back down. "If it were anywhere else we would have seen it by now. Everything in here is rusty, but a blue box…."

"That's _police_ box." He started forward and fell against the skeleton of a speeder as the truck jerked forward. "But she prefers to be called the TARDIS!" he shouted up from the floor.

"Doctor." Rey caught his eye, and he realized that the floor beneath had calmed to a gentle sway. Every metal part in the huge room rattled and the truck jerked once more, and the floor lay still. He jumped to his feet.

"I'm assuming that's bad?" he said.

In one swift movement, Rey was at his side, and together they stared at the little door as it creaked open. A small, wrinkled creature vaulted inside and stood to its full height, its finger on the trigger of a blaster.

"Thieves!" it growled in a low, raspy voice. "Get out, or I'll shoot!"

"No thank you, I don't think either of us would like that." The Doctor stepped forward, his hands in the air. "See, we're not thieves. You've got something of mine, and I'm taking it back." He flipped his sonic screwdriver from his pocket. "Now if you'll kindly lower your gun, I won't have to do this."

"Whatever it is, it's mine now." The little creature stepped forward. "And there'll be no threats from the likes of you. Scavengers!" He spit out the word like it tasted sour.

"Oh, that's ironic coming from you." He raised an eyebrow. "It seems you're a scavenger yourself."

"He prefers to be called _inventor._ " Rey's voice echoed from behind him. "He takes old, badly made things and repurposes them into new, badly made things." She stepped forward. "Listen, Dexx." Her fingers tightened on her staff. "You already know—"

Dexx let out a noise that sounded like a mix between a growl and a shriek, and clutched at his leg. His blaster fell to the sand below, and he followed it with a curse. A small beep sounded from the sand, and the little droid launched itself at the doorway and landed at the Doctor's feet. It turned its head upward and gave a proud beep. Electricity still sizzled from a metal bar that protruded from its side.

"BB8!" She hurried forward. "Did you—"

It let out a series of beeps and whistles, and turned its head toward the door.

"He's not dead," Rey said. "Just gave him a bit of a shock." She turned to the Doctor. "And he's telling us to run."

"Right." The Doctor leaped for the door and jumped to the sand, Rey at his heels. Dexx was darting toward the door of the truck, his blaster in hand, shouting something that sounded like a mix between a curse and an order. The little droid screeched and landed on the sand with a plop.

A cry of _catch the thieves!_ echoed across the desert. The Doctor turned to see a crowd of Dexx's kind swarming from the doors of the truck.

"Onto the speeder! Now!" Rey skidded to a stop and prepared to vault aboard. The sound of running feet swished in the sand behind them, and they turned to see Dexx and four of his guards standing with their blasters at the ready.

Dexx stepped forward. "You stole the droid too, didn't you?" he growled. "Naxx, Pluxx. Cuff them."

The one named Naxx threw himself at the Doctor and forced his hands behind his back. He heard the clink of metal, and glanced at Rey. She stood, her face a hard mask, as her staff was thrown to the sand and snapped in half. The one named Pluxx snapped a pair of handcuffs around her wrists, and the Doctor felt the cold bite of metal against his skin.

Naxx prodded him in the back with his blaster. "Move," he snapped.

Dexx stalked ahead of them as the guards herded them back to the truck. "I'll let my boss deal with you," he growled.

He slammed the door of the truck open, and the guard herding Rey shoved her inside and gave her a sharp kick, which sent her flying to the ground. Naxx shoved his blaster in the Doctor's back.

"Get in."

He sighed and stepped inside, and Naxx shoved him forward and slammed the door on his back, sending him flying to the ground. The key ground against the lock, and the sound echoed off the rusty walls.

* * *

 _*Does Jedi hand wave.* You will favorite this story. You will follow this story. You will review this story._

… _and you'll drop your weapon._


	7. Chapter 6

_**Author's Note:**_ _So does this make Rey the girl who waited?_

… _sorry._

* * *

 **Chapter 6**

Waves of heat rippled down from the high ceiling and filled the room in sweltering waves. The floor bumped and creaked beneath them, and constant rattling of metal parts echoed through the huge space.

The Doctor leaned his head against the wall and slid down to the floor with a sigh, his hands twisted awkwardly behind him in the handcuffs. "You could…come with me, you know," he said suddenly. "After we've got out of this mess."

She shot him a sharp glance. "Do you really think now is the best time to ask that? We're handcuffed in the back of a truck that's currently heating up like an oven. After almost getting killed."

He shrugged. "Well, what else are we going to do? Sit here and brood?"

"Well. I guess you've got a point."

"Yeah." He turned to her with a little half-smile. "It's not always this bad, you know. I can take you anywhere—any galaxy, any time, any planet! You could see the crystal falls of Calissa. The shining towers of Delan." He smiled, his eyes shining. "I'd like that."

She dropped her gaze, and stared at her lap for a long moment. "I can't," she said in a low, flat voice. She took a deep breath and stared off across the long, shadowy truck. "But someday I will." She clenched her fists in the handcuffs, and there was determination in her words. "Someday I'll see the universe. Someday they'll come back." Her voice dropped, and trailed off into a long, threadbare silence, filled with thoughts unformed and hopes unspoken.

His gaze was soft, yet somehow piercing. "They?"

"My family." She swallowed, and looked away. "When I was ten years old, they left me here. They promised me they'd come back. And someday they will! Someday they'll come back for me." Her voice caught, and she forced the words out. "And I'll be here, waiting for them. Just like I always have."

"And so you've stayed here. Waiting. All these years, clinging to one tiny spark of hope." A soft smile played around his lips. "Oh, that's wonderful. That's beautiful." His smile turned to a smirk, and he cocked his head to the side. "But what if I told you I could travel through time?"

She blinked. "Travel through time?"

"TARDIS. Stands for time and relative dimensions in space. I could drop you right back here the minute you left. You wouldn't miss a day!"

She just stared at him for a moment. "But—time travel's a myth."

He cocked an eyebrow at her. "Every myth has a grain of truth, hey?"

"Doctor…" She narrowed her eyes and stared through the half-light at a little cylindrical object that had rolled into her view with a bump of the truck. "Your—your sonic screwdriver. It's right here."

He jumped to his feet. "What?" The truck bounced, and he fell back against the wall with a thump and a groan. "My sonic screwdriver's here?"

She edged forward, and pulled the little object closer with her foot. "Right here," she said, her eyes fixed on the device. "I've almost got it."

She nudged it again and it flew into the air with another bump of the truck. She bounced it from her knee and it landed in her lap. She tossed a little grin at the Doctor. "This…unlocks things, right?"

"Right."

"Things like handcuffs?"

Their eyes met, and he grinned. "Exactly."

He wormed himself around until his hands could reach her lap, and his fingers closed around it. He jerked his head backwards, and she nodded and wiggled around until her hands faced him. Behind her, she heard him fumbling with the sonic screwdriver, and a strange, wobbly noise came from the little device. She heard the click of a lock, and felt the handcuffs snap from of one wrist, then the other. She brought her hands in front of her and rubbed her wrists.

"Thanks." She held out a hand. "Your turn."

He dropped the sonic screwdriver into her palm. "I've got it on the right setting, just push—"

"—this button?" She pressed the strange device against the lock and pressed a button. One lock clicked, and then the other, and the handcuffs fell to the floor with a clatter. She stared at the sonic screwdriver, wide-eyed.

"I did it," she said, as if to herself. "It worked."

He stared at her, and a grin burst across his face. "Oh, you brilliant girl! I—"

She looked away. "It was a lucky guess," she said hastily. "I saw you use it earlier, and—"

"You should make more lucky guesses then, hey?" He jumped to his feet and gave his arms a shake. "Come on then! TARDIS here we come!"

The truck stopped with a jerk, and Rey smacked into the wall. They both froze, eyes on the door.

The Doctor sighed. "Oh, don't tell me—"

"Come _on!_ " She shook herself and started toward the nearest pile of junk. "We've got to find your ship— _now_!"

"Right! Forward! Allons-y!" He dashed across the truck and disappeared into the shadows of a corner. A string of old parts and unidentifiable rusty objects came flying into the center of the truck, and he burst into the light. "Not in here! Would've found it already. Found anything?"

"I've only just started!" She skidded to a stop beside a pile and tossed a rusty wheel over her shoulder. It bounced along the floor with a series of bangs and crashes. Bright blue paint peeked out from the hole.

"Doctor—"

Creaking hinges echoed through the room and she stopped, and tensed. Her hand strayed to her staff and grasped at nothing. She let out a little huff.

A beam of light pierced the half-darkness and a figure stood silhouetted in the doorway, a blaster in hand.

"Odd, I feel like we've been here before," the Doctor said. He turned to the door, hands in the air. "Alright, get it over with. Handcuff us again! Lock us in!" He stepped forward, and the mocking tone dropped from his voice. "I'll warn you," he said, and he stared the creature straight in the eye, "this time we'll not be so easily held."

Dexx jerked his head out the door. "Get ou—"

His voice caught, and his hand flew to his chest as a strange sound sizzled across the desert, distorted in the echoes of the cavernous room. His fingers clutched at his shirt and his face contorted, and he flew backward out the door with a cry and a gurgle.

Rey dashed to the door, the Doctor only a step behind her. He lay crumpled in the sand, his hand still clutching at his blaster, a small, clean hole charred through his shirt. She leaped to the sand and shaded her eyes against the noonday sun as she stared across the blinding desert.

The form of the dalek floated over the sand, its single eye fixed on her face.

"No!" she cried. "Stop! Stop right now!"

The dalek stopped. A flash of movement caught her eye, and she whirled to see three of Dexx's men leaping from the truck, armed with blasters and knives.

"Murderers!" Pluxx leapt toward her, a finger on the trigger. She dropped to the sand and rolled as the blaster shot flew over her head. The dalek moved its blaster until it pointed at the attackers.

"Stop!" Her glanced flew between the guards and the dalek. Its eyestalk swiveled toward her, and back to the guards. It stopped, still as a statue, the sun glinting harshly off of its metal frame.

The Doctor skidded to a stop beside her. "Stop this minute!" he shouted to the guards, who were frozen, staring at the dalek with readied blasters. "Listen to me! Can you just listen?"

They looked down the barrels of three blasters as the guards approached, and stopped so close that Rey could have knocked them over in one sweep if she had her staff. A hot wind caught at their clothes and ruffled the Doctor's coat. He whistled. "BB8!" The little droid dropped from the truck and rolled across the sand toward them.

"You've got something of mine, see." He cocked an eyebrow at them, and Rey thought she saw a hint of a smirk. "And I'm willing to trade for it."

"What are you gonna trade?" Three fingers tightened on three triggers, and Pluxx stepped forward. "The droid? Your useless coat?"

He cocked an eyebrow at them. "I like this coat, thank you very much." A little smirk played around the corners of his mouth as he pulled the sonic screwdriver form his pocket and flipped it in the air. "But I've got lots of things to trade. Well...quite a few. Used to have lots! I was a bit of a traveling merchant, see. Sold all sorts of odd oddities. Ooh, that sounds good, I should use that more often. Odd oddities! It nearly rhymes." He turned the sonic screwdriver over in his fingers. "Things like…oh, this little thing here. It does everything, including…" His finger closed on a button, and a field of blue light glowed from the tip. "…disable your blasters. That's better. Much less threatening."

His hand slipped to his back pocket. "But there's more! Ah, that sounds like a salesman. Old habits. Anyway. I had a nice little ship, see—which you lot have stolen, I may add." His fingers closed around something like a wallet, and he slipped it out and held it behind his back. It fell open to reveal a blank piece of paper. She stared at it, blinked, and stared at it again. For a moment, something had flickered across the paper—something like a message.

"Stop your babbling," growled Naxx. "Are you a lunatic? What have you got to trade?"

"Ah, but I was just getting there." He shot a glance at Rey, and she looked at the paper again, and back at him. She lifted her shoulders in a slight shrug. His lips parted in a silent exclamation of _what?_ and he worked the paper around his back until it faced BB8. "See, I've got all sorts of odd treasures hidden in my ship, but I can't exactly trade them at the moment, can I? If you'll only let me unearth my ship, we can work out an arrangement. Deal?"

"Some deal." The guard stepped forward, flanked by the two others. BB8 let out a screech and started for the door of the truck. Rey glanced at the Doctor, and their eyes met. He tilted his head toward the truck.

She stared off after the droid. "Sorry!" she called over her shoulder. "Troublesome droid!"

BB8 made a flying leap from the sand and landed inside the truck with a disgruntled beep and a shake of his head. She leaped after him, and pushed him behind the door.

"What did the Doctor want?" she hissed.

He let out a series of beeps, and tilted his head to the side. She nodded sharply, and crept toward the flash of blue in the corner with a quick glance out the door, where the Doctor still babbled on.

She ducked behind the rusted form of an old droid, and kept to the shadows as she approached. The little droid disappeared into a far corner, silent as a shadow. The skeleton of a speeder sat in front of the TARDIS.

She edged behind the speeder and nudged it forward. A lever clattered to the floor with a crash and a thousand echoes, and she froze.

Three blasters swiveled toward the door, and the guard let out a shout. She shoved the speeder forward. It fell away in a shower of parts and metal, and the sound must have echoed for miles across the desert. She cleared the rubble from the TARDIS door with a single sweep of her arm, and tugged at the blue doorknob.

It didn't move.

"Doctor!" she shouted, and tugged again. He dashed toward the truck, and fell against the door with a cry. The guard kicked him to the ground and he rolled, and lay crumpled on the sand.

"Doctor!" She flew to the door and stared out at the sand. The image of his prone form refused to register in her mind. "Doctor—no!"

Naxx gave him a sharp kick and leaped into the truck. "He's dead," he snapped, and slammed his blaster into its holster. "That lunatic of a man couldn't even disable this old thing." He grabbed Rey by the wrist. "Come on, girl."


	8. Chapter 7

_**Author's Note:**_ _Ah yes, the obligatory scene where the companion discovers that the Doctor has two hearts and is thoroughly confused. (Also, you know, sees the inside of the TARDIS for the first time.)_

* * *

 **Chapter 7**

"Doctor!" she cried again, struggling and tugging against the iron grasp of the guard. "No!"

"Stop yer whining." The guard's fingers bit into her wrist and she forced herself not to betray the sharp pain. "What's he to you?"

"He's—" She stopped, and stared at the prone form of the man she had met only a day ago, his jacket seared from a blaster shot and his face pale as death. "He's…"

Her voice trailed into silence, and for a moment, all was still. She tore her eyes from the Doctor's lifeless body and shot a sharp glance at the guards.

She lunged forward and twisted her hands from Pluxx's iron grip. His fingers closed around her wrist and pain shot up her shoulder as the guard twisted her arm behind her, and she heard the clink of handcuffs behind her. Cold metal bit into her wrist with a click.

She tensed, and turned to see the dalek approaching.

"Stop!" she cried, and tugged again. "Don't kill them!"

"Don't kill who? Are you crazy, girl?"

The dalek prodded him in the back, and he turned.

His keys clattered to the ground.

She stood, and met the dalek's gaze. "Don't kill them." Her voice wavered. "There will be no more killing."

The dalek's eye moved to her and back to the guards.

Her eye twitched and every muscle in her body longed to reach for her staff, but she kept her gaze fixed on the dalek.

"And that's an order," she said.

The dalek backed slowly away, its blaster still pointed at the guard's back.

"Now listen." She clenched her fists and forced herself to meet Pluxx's steely gaze. "Just listen. That creature behind you could kill you with a single shot if it chose to." She straightened her shoulders and stared the guard straight in the eye. "The only reason you're alive is because I ordered it to stop. Do you understand?"

The guard growled low in his throat. "We'll not bow to your—"

"Rey!" She whirled to see the Doctor standing in the doorway of the truck, pale and a bit wobbly.

With a swift kick, she sent the guard sprawling, and leaped for the door. She slammed into the Doctor and they sprawled onto the floor as a blaster shot flew over their heads.

They were on their feet in an instant. "Come on!" he cried. "Allons-y!" A laser slammed into the side of the truck and they ran, their footsteps echoing and the sound pounding against the walls. Blaster shots sizzled into the truck and flew through the doorway and the noise and blue light and pounding footsteps echoed in a cacophony around the building. The Doctor slammed into Rey and they fell to the side as a blaster shot scarred the door of the TARDIS. He leaped to his feet, seized the handle, and shoved.

The door flew open and they tumbled inside. She jumped to her feet and scrambled over the Doctor as she reached for the door.

The little droid flew past them with a screech and slammed into the Doctor. She shoved the doors closed and leaned against them.

And for the first time, she looked around.

She put a hand to her forehead and squeezed her eyes closed. "Um." She rubbed her eyes, blinked, and shook her head. Was she going crazy? That couldn't be real. The image that was projected into her mind couldn't be real. It had to be some trick, some sort of—

"Um." She looked at the door, and back at the sight in front of her. "Are you—are you certain we've got the right ship?"

"Yep!" He flicked a lever, and light pulsed up and down the center shaft. She slid down the doors and landed on the floor with a heavy thump. The little droid rolled in circles around what must have been the console, beeping frantically, its head turning this way and that and its antennae quivering.

She managed a wry smile. "So I'm not the only one who sees it."

The Doctor leaned against the console and crossed his arms with a little half-smirk. "Ah. You've noticed."

"It's—"

"—bigger on the inside. That's usually the first observ—ah!" His hand flew to his chest and he fell backward with a gasp. "Ah! I've only—ah! Help!"

She rushed to his side and caught him as he slid to the floor. "What's wrong? What's happened?"

"That blaster—" He winced, and drew in a strangled breath. "My hearts. I've only got one."

She gripped him by the shoulders and forced him to look at her. "One what? You've only got one what?"

"Heart! I've only got—" A spasm of pain flashed across his face. "I need—just give me a good smack! Over my heart! No, the other one!" She rested her hand on his chest, and drew back.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes! Just do it!"

She brought her hand down on his chest with a hard whack, and he winced. "Again! Do it again!"

 _Whack._ He shook himself and jumped to his feet. "Ah, that's better! Now, let's see where we are."

She leaned weakly against the console and stared at him, her hand gripping the metal edge so hard it hurt. "Did you say two—two _hearts_?"

"Yep! Now—" He strode to the doors and threw them open, and stood on the edge of a black abyss. "Ah. It seems we're in space."

She stepped to his side and steadied herself against the door. "I'm not sure I understand," she said.

"Oh, you'll get used to it. Not understanding, that is." He gazed across the black expanse at their feet, broken only by the twinkling light of the distant stars and a brown sphere, far below.

"Jakku," he said. "Your home."

"It's so—brown." The little droid rubbed about her ankles like a friendly cat, and she looked down with a hint of a smile. "I've never seen it from—above."

They just stood there for a long moment, the light of the stars twinkling on the sides of the TARDIS, thousands of points of light pricked in the black fabric of space. "Somehow…" she began, and her voice was soft. "Somehow I don't think I care about understanding."

The Doctor grinned. "Now you're getting it!"

She tore her eyes from the stars with a little sigh. "I suppose we should be—what's that?"

The Doctor followed her gaze. "What's what?"

"No—outside. That thing. It's—" Her eyes widened, and she shoved the door closed. "The dalek! It followed us!"

The Doctor was at the console in a moment. "Come on! Grab that lever! Yes, that one! We're going down!"

The light began to pulse again, and there was a gentle thump. The Doctor marched to the doors and flew them open with a flourish.

The outline of Niima outpost stood silhouetted against the sunrise.

The triumphant grin dropped from his face. "Oh." He stepped out onto the sand and looked around. "It seems I overshot."

"You what?" She shaded her eyes against the rising sun. "We're in the right pl—it's _morning._ "

He nodded. "It is."

"But it was afternoon when we left. Surely it hasn't been—"

"Eighteen hours? For them. But not for us." He cocked an eyebrow. "Told you I could time travel."

She stared at him, groping for something to hold onto in her mind, something to steady her whirling thoughts. "You really can." Her voice wavered. "You really can travel through time."

He grinned. "Yep!"

"But that's—that's impossible." She paced forward, and back again. "If one were to build a ship that could go ten, twenty, thirty times hyperspeed, one could take advantage of the properties of hyperspace to travel a few seconds forward or backward in time." Her words stumbled over each other and her thoughts rushed ahead in a wild frenzy. "But no one in the known universe has the capability to create such a ship." She stepped back, and stared for a long moment at the Doctor, who stood there in the desert, his arms crossed, a little half-smile curling around his lips. "Doctor—who are you?"

"Um." He glanced at the outpost. "About that. First of all, I don't believe I understood a word you just said, which is a first for me. Secondly, daleks can't travel through time. Well, not usually. Not without some effort. Well, they _can._ But I highly doubt—anyway. What I'm saying is, that dalek could very well have landed here yesterday afternoon."

She caught her breath. "Which means…"

He jerked his head toward the outpost. "Everyone there could be dead."

* * *

 _I must admit, I'm rather proud of Rey's little hypothesis about how time travel could work. I'm not usually a science-y person so I'm honestly surprised I even knew about the whole time travel and light speed thing. ;D_


	9. Chapter 8

_**Author's Note:**_ _Okay, so I_ might _have taken a little inspiration from "Dalek" from season 1 here. Maybe. I'm not admitting anything._

* * *

 **Chapter 8**

Rey skidded to a stop in the middle of the outpost and scanned the tents and shacks in a flash of a second. "Where is it?" she cried. "Where's it gone?"

A few heads turned toward her, and fixed her with a long stare. The people moved about, engaged in business as usual, and gentle—and sometimes not-so-gentle—chatter filled the outpost. A shout rose from a nearby shack, and two men burst out the door, arguing loudly in another language.

She caught her breath. "Everyone's alive! Doctor, they're—Doctor?"

She stood alone in the marketplace.

An old woman, a frequent visitor of the marketplace and well-known crank, brushed past her with a grunt. "Ma'am." She caught the woman by the arm. "Ma'am. Have you seen a—strange droid, about this tall? I seem to—"

"Haven't seen any droids around here, strange or not," she snapped, and jerked her arm from Rey's grip. Rey shook her head and stared after the small retreating from. She should have known. Mal was _never_ helpful.

She sauntered forward, slowly, casually, as if she knew where she was going and had all the time in the world to get there. She cast a glance behind one tent, then the next. Where had it _gone_? It couldn't have just disappeared!

The ghost of a shadow slid behind a shack, and she whirled and dove after it. She dashed down a tight alley and burst into the sunlight on the edge of the outpost. The dalek hovered inches away from the sand, still as a statue, its single eye fixed on the horizon.

"Hello," she said.

Its eyestalk whirled to face her, its blaster only a moment behind. It froze, and sank to the sand, landing with a slight thump.

"Hello," she said again. She stepped forward, holding out her hand as if to a skittish animal. "Talk to me. What's your name?"

"I AM A DALEK." She drew closer as it spoke, standing straight and walking with determination. "DALEKS HAVE NO NAMES."

"You've got to have a name. Everything has a name—even droids."

"DALEKS HAVE NO NAMES."

"Alright." She reached forward, and brushed her fingers along the metal. Its eyestalk drooped, and she placed a hand gently on its head. "Can I ask you a question?"

"YOU MAY."

"Good." She tilted its eyestalk toward her and met its gaze. "Why have you not killed anyone?"

"THEY ARE YOUR ALLIES." The blue light that was its eye flickered. "I DID NOT WISH TO ANGER YOU."

"It's not as if I could really hurt you, you know." She searched the glowing eye until she saw nothing but blue, probing for some sign of life, some sign that this thing that stood before her held a soul within its metal casing. "And I think you know that. Don't you?"

It ventured no reply.

"Stay with me." Its eye snapped to hers and the blue light flared. "You could—"

"Rey!" The Doctor skidded to a stop behind her and grabbed her hand. "Come on!"

Before she could stop him, he was off across the desert with her behind him. They ducked into the tight alley and she pulled her hand free.

"I was starting to get through to it!" she cried. "How could you?"

"You were _what_?"

"I was talking to it! I think—"

"It's a dalek, Rey! You can't—"

She turned away and started back toward the dalek. "I think I'm perfectly capable of deciding what I can and can't do, Doctor."

He caught her by the arm. "No, listen!" His words tumbled over each other. "We've only got a few minutes. I pulled that thing from the void when I came here. The void—the space between universes, a place of pure nothingness. There's thousands of daleks trapped in there since—well." His eyes darkened, and the pain of memory swirled in their depths. "Never mind that. Anyway, all we have to do is draw it back into the void. With my TARDIS and your commander status, I think we can—"

She pulled her arm free. "You want me to trick it into following me?"

He paused. "Well…"

"I can't do that! It trusts me."

"Daleks have no concept of trust!"

"This one does."

He sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. "I'm sorry, Rey. I'm so, so sorry. But for the safety of everyone in this universe, you've got to."

"I can't. I can't just betray it like that. I can't leave it behind in some horrible empty void, waiting forever for my return, wondering…" Her words caught in her throat, and she dropped her eyes. "Every day, wondering when the only person it's ever trusted will return."

The Doctor stared at her, and his gaze was dark. His eyes flickered to the dalek, and back to her.

He turned, and strode down the alley.

Her voice was hard, forced through gritted teeth. "Where are you going?"

But he was gone, disappeared into the chattering crowd of the outpost.

She dashed forward, weaving her way through the people and the chatter and the buildings. The Doctor pushed his way through the crowd and the people parted as he went. A man hurried in front of Rey and she stopped with a barely-heard growl of frustration. "Doctor—" She started forward again.

An old woman brushed past her as if she were invisible, carrying a pile of tins and boxes almost as tall as herself. Rey skidded to a stop as her hand brushed the pile, and watched with wide-eyed horror as the pile clattered to the ground.

"Sorry!" She bent down and plopped a box into the woman's arms. "I'll be back!" She was off through the crowd before the woman could stop her, and she dashed across the desert and out the dilapidated gate.

She skidded to a stop and stared. The sun glinted off the sand behind the shadowy outline of the TARDIS, and a strange, gravelly noise just reached her ears. She threw herself forward and flew across the desert, her feet barely touching the ground. The ghostlike outline of the blue box faded, and the sand behind it grew clearer and clearer. She threw her hand forward as if to yank the doors open, beg the Doctor not to leave. Her hand fell through nothing and she tumbled to the ground where the TARDIS had once stood.

* * *

 _*A dalek rolls into view.*_

 _IF YOU DO NOT REVIEW YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED._

 _Whoa, whoa, calm down there, buddy. *Looks apologetically at you.* What he means is that he will be very happy if you review, and will thank you politely. Right, boy?_

 _*The dalek looks slightly resigned.* YES. THAT IS WHAT INTENDED TO SAY._


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

"THE DOCTOR HAS LEFT."

She didn't know if the tears came from the morning sun in her eyes or—something else. "He's gone." She ran her fingers through the sand. "He's just…gone." She clenched her fists and blinked until the tears spilled over and left little dark spots in the sand. No! She had only known him for two days. How many people had slipped in and out of her life in all these years, leaving her with nothing but a memory? Hundreds! Thousands!

And he was no exception.

Her face a hard mask, she turned and started with deliberate, mechanical steps toward the outpost. "Come on," she snapped.

"I LET THE DOCTOR ESCAPE. I HAVE FAILED."

"Come on and stop _moping_! Do you think I'm just going to let you sit here in the sand and be angry?"

The dalek's engines whirred to life and she glanced behind her to see it following. "I AM A DALEK WHO IS NOT A DALEK." Its mechanical voice faltered. "I AM IMPURE. I AM INFERIOR. I AM USELESS."

"No!" She stopped and glared at the creature. "You're staying with me! You're going to help me."

Its eyestalk drooped, and the blue light faded to nothing. "I AM A FAILURE. I DESERVE TO BE EXTERMINATED. NO!" Its head jerked upward, and its eye flared an angry blue. "I WILL NOT BE USELESS. THIS PLANET WILL BE EXTERMINATED! EVERYONE WILL DIE!"

It shot forward across the sand. Rey lunged after it. "No! Stop! Stop this now!"

"EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!" A blue beam flew through the air and a guard flew backward and landed on the sand with a horrible crunch. Another shot sizzled through the air and split the fabric of a ragged tent. It hung open, scorched, and a figure lay slumped to the ground inside. It shot forward under the gate and blue beam after blue beam seared the air, each hitting their mark with terrible accuracy.

Rey skidded to a stop just under the gate, her breath coming in short gasps. "Listen to me! Just listen!"

The old woman slumped to the ground with a cry and a curse, and lay motionless in the sand. The dalek stopped in the center of the outpost, its eyestalk wobbling back and forth and the blue light pulsing.

"I HAVE MURDERED THEM." Its head moved over the carnage that lay in its wake, and its eye rested on every still form. "I AM A MURDERER."

She stepped in front of the dalek and met its cold stare with an equally cold gaze. "And you're happy about it, aren't you?" She clenched her fists. "You're happy now! You've finally—"

"I—CAN—FEEL." The wild pulsing faded, and its eye moved once more across the prone forms on the sand. "I CAN FEEL THE PAIN OF DEATH." It moved forward, and fixed its eye on the form of the old woman. "DALEKS CANNOT FEEL PAIN. DALEKS CANNOT FEEL REGRET."

"Listen. Just listen to me!"

"NO. I WILL NOT." It whirled and pushed past her, and she jumped back, resisting the urge to grab for her staff. "YOU ARE MY ENEMY. YOU HAVE MADE ME AN ABOMINATION. YOU HAVE CHANGED ME INTO THE THING I HATE. I WILL NOT SUCCOMB! I WILL NOT BECOME WHAT YOU ARE!" Its blaster whirled toward her and it hovered, still, pulsing with hatred and confusion and wild, swirling emotions.

On the edge of her vision, she saw the people of the outpost frozen in fear, all eyes fixed on the strange spectacle in the square, the girl and the dalek. "Listen to me!" She stood her ground and forced the waver from her voice, forced her eyes from the blaster pointed at her chest. "Please."

"THE DOCTOR HAS RETURNED. I AM VICTORIOUS!"

She whirled to the see the form of the Doctor standing at the edge of the outpost. Before she could stop herself she was running, laughing, throwing her arms around his neck. He lifted her from the ground and swung her in a circle, laughing.

The moment her feet hit the ground she shot a glance back at the dalek. "Come on," she hissed. "We can talk somewhere else."

They ducked behind a metal shack and he just stood there for a moment, grinning at her. "That was close!" he said with a laugh. "How long has it been? A few days? A month? Less than a year?" His smile faded, and he searched her face for the answer. "Oh, please tell me it's been less than a year."

She laughed through unrestrained tears. "Less than a year! It's been ten minutes!"

He grinned. "Ten minutes! Well that's a first!"

Her laughter faded, and she stepped back, staring at him. "You thought it would be longer," she said. "You left, and you thought it would be a year—or more. Don't you realize?" Her voice shook. "Everyone could have died! And you just…left, because…why? Because you were angry? Because I refused to—"

His eyes widened, and he shook his head. "I didn't leave!" he cried. "Didn't I tell you? It was the TARDIS. She doesn't like it here! She's been trying to get back to the right universe ever since I first started her up in that truck. I had to stop her!" He leaned closer, and his words seemed to tumble over each other. "Whatever we're going to do, we've only got a few minutes to do it. She's trying to leave again already." He tensed, and glanced behind him. "She could be gone even now. Rey, we need to—"

She tensed, and threw a glance behind her. "Duck," she hissed, and threw him forward. They slammed to the ground and a blue beam flew over their head. They were on their feet in a moment and flying across the outpost and out into the desert. The whirring of the dalek's engines followed them and behind them Rey could see its shadow, growing larger by the moment.

"EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! THE DOCTOR WILL BE EXTERMINATED!"

She skidded to a stop and threw herself in front of the Doctor. "Stop. Stop! Listen to me!"

It stopped, its eye flaring and pulsing as if straining against the order.

"Listen! You will not do this. The Doctor is my friend!" She took a cautious step forward, holding out a hand as if to a skittish animal. Its eyestalk moved to her face, and the blue light steadied.

And the blaster lowered.

She reached forward, and set a gentle hand on its head. "Please," she said softly. "Please."

For a moment it stared at her, and she could almost see the longing throbbing behind the metal case. She focused her will in one sharp point at the dalek, driving her thoughts at its mind, its soul. The moments swirled by like galaxies, and still they stood, the scavenger and the dalek. She pressed her hand against the cold metal and stared deeply into its eye, past the flickering blue light, past the metal shaft.

"Please."

Its eyestalk jerked upward and it flew past her. "THE DOCTOR WILL BE EXTERMINATED." Its blaster jerked forward, and its eye flared a harsh blue. The Doctor whirled, his hand resting on the TARDIS doors. The dim outline of a sandy hill shone through blue outline, and the shape of the TARDIS dimmed, and grew thin.

From the dalek's blaster came the sizzle of a charging laser.


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Her hand flew to her staff and closed on nothing. The outline of the TARDIS grew dimmer and dimmer, and the sand behind clearer and clearer. For a long, stretched-out moment, she searched in the air behind her as if her lost weapon would materialize in her hand if she found the right spot. The Doctor's hand tightened on the door, and he opened his mouth to cry out, to call to the scavenger girl who stood frozen in a moment of time.

The dalek's laser sizzled.

Any moment now. Any moment now it would shoot.

The TARDIS pulsed.

If she jumped through that fading door, she might never see her universe again.

Pulse.

Blue light flared from the dalek's eye. Its blaster moved, corrected its aim, and the laser shot down its barrel.

And Rey leaped.

She flew forward across the desert with a cry, her feet kicking up sand in the dalek's face. She slammed into the Doctor and a shock jolted her to the bones as they slammed into the TARDIS floor. She tensed, jumped to her feet and grabbed for the doors. They crashed closed and a laser seared against the outside of the TARDIS like a bolt of lightning.

The Doctor leapt to the console and shoved a lever forward. The floor shook under Rey's feet, and the walls rattled. She steadied herself against the console. He reached his hand across the dizzying array of levers and buttons, and their fingers met as the TARDIS swayed and rattled. Blast after blast from the dalek's laser shook the doors, and its harsh voice blasted hatred and curses through every crack it could find.

The floor beneath them steadied, and it seemed the dalek's voice grew fuzzy, as if heard through a screen. The floor jolted, and everything was still.

Their eyes met and together they turned to the door. Stillness and silence settled heavily around the walls and rang in their ears.

The Doctor's laugh rang through the room. "Now _that's_ the way to do it!" he cried. He sprinted to the doors and threw them open with a flourish. "Welcome to another universe!"

She just stood there for a moment. The white blur of sudden daylight flared in her eyes and she clenched the console. "So we just…left it behind," she said. "It's stuck there, in the void. Waiting. Forever."

He turned to hers, and his eyes were suddenly dark. "We did what we had to do."

"It would have killed everyone." Tears stung her eyes, unbidden. "Wouldn't it?"

Wordlessly, he stepped away from the door. His hand touched hers, and she raised her eyes to his. For a moment, she thought she saw the answer hovering in them, an answer so certain in its uncertainty that it made her reel.

Something bumped against her ankles, and she looked down to see the little droid at her feet, its head upturned. "BB8!" She reached down and patted the top of its head with a little laugh. "You followed us!"

It rolled toward the door and turned its head back toward her with a little beep. The Doctor grinned and raised an eyebrow.

"Well," he said, "BB8 said it first. Shall we?"

"Well…" She looked away, and a little smile twitched around her lips. "We could just…take a look, couldn't we?"

He winked. "Just a look," he said, and slipped his hand into hers. And together, they stepped out into the unknown.

* * *

 ** _The End._**

* * *

 _Thanks so much to everyone who's followed me this long! And yes, there is going to be a sequel. In fact, there will be nine sequels. This started out as a single story idea, and turned into an entire "pseudo-season" of Doctor Who, with three "two-parters" (i.e. stories that are twice as long as the others) and a "season"-long story-arc, because I'm an overachiever, apparently. (Hint: the story arc was part of this story. In fact, two parts. One very tiny part and one somewhat bigger one. And no, it's not daleks or anything to do with them.) Anyway, I'll be posting the first chapter of the sequel next Monday, so be sure to check my page then!_


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